Umbrella-runner



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC. y

JOSEPH BARNHURST, 0F FRANOISVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

UMBRELLARUNNER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 1,193, dated June 25, 1839.

T0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH BARNHURST, ofFrancisville, in the county of PhiladeL phia, in the State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Mannerof Making the Runners of Umbrellas and Parasols; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full and exact description thereof.

The runner in which I have made my improvement is of the kind that isemployed to confine the umbrella when closed, as well as when open, andwhich is ordinarily furnished with a spring catch and a thumb piece bywhich to engage and disengage it; but there is also another modificationof this kind of runner, in which the spring catch is not used, but thefastening of the umbrella. or parasol, is effected by the turning aroundof one cylindrical tube upon another, and it is to this runner somodiied that my improvements have been added.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 represents my improved runner, a,a, being the flanch, or projecting rim, grooved and notched in the usualmanner for the reception of the stretchers, b, are portions of the innercylindrical tube through which the stick is to pass, and c, c, is theouter tube, litt-ing upon the tube Z2, b, and capable of being turnedaround upon it to a certain extent, governed by stops, or check pins,marked d, d. As the runner passes up and down the umbrella stick, it isto be allowed to pass over pins driven therein and projecting therefromto the distance of a sixteenth of an inch, more or less, by the aid ofwhich pins the runner is to be secured in place both when the umbrella,or parasol, is opened and when it is closed. For the purpose of allowingthe runner to pass over these pins, a ridge is formed along the outertube extending its whole length, as shown at c, c, and also at each endof the inner tube, as shown at e', e, the metal being so raised as toform this ridge on the outsides of the tubes, and consequently leaving acorresponding groove, or channel, within them. Fig. 2 shows the form ofthe tubes in a cross section, f, being the channel through which thepins pass. The inner tube, between the projecting ridges e', e, has aslot, or opening, along it extending from one of these ridges to theother, which slot allows it to pass over the pins in the stick, and atthe same time admits of the turning of the outer tube upon it. Fig. 3,is a representation of the inner tube, the outer being removed for thepurpose of exhibiting the former the more distinctly. g, g, is the slotextending from e to e".

In Figs. 1 and 3, d, d are pins, or stops, soldered to the inner tube,and which .serve to check the outer tube. I/Vhen the ridge e, comes intocontact with the stop, (Z, the ridges on both tubes coincide and therunner can pass over the projecting pins driven into the umbrellahandle. `When the ridge e, is brought into contact with the stop CZ,this coincidence no longer exists, and the passing of the runner alongthe handle would be prevented by a projecting pin in the latter. vTwosuch pins are driveninto it, one of which serves to hold the umbrellaopen. The other serves to keep it closed, and they are driven into suchparts of the handle as that when the umbrella is opened and the outertube is so turned upon the inner that the ridges shall not coincide thelower edO'e of the outer tube will bear against one of the pins and whenit is closed the upper end of said tube will bear against the other pin.By turning the outer tube upon the inner the runner is, therefore,readily liberated or held in the desired position.

Having thus fully described by improved runner, and shown how the sameoperates, I do hereby declare that I do not claim to be the inventor ofa runner composed of two cylinders, one of which turns upon the other,but only of the following improvements therein; namely,

I claim- 1. The forming of such a runner with the space e, between theouter tube, and the flanch a, a, which space allows of the placing of aleather guard around that part below the stretchers, and of thusprotecting the silk, or other covering of the umbrella, or parasol, fromabrasion in that part, which could not be done with the runner uponwhich this is an improvement; as, in that, the outer tube extended upto, and was in contact with, the anch a, a.

2. I also claim the placing of the check pins or stops, (Z, d, to arrestthe outer tube when it has been turned to the proper distance, for whichobject there was not any provision made in the runner upon which this isan improvement.

J. BARNHURST.

Witnesses:

Trios. F. JONES, GEORGE WEST.

